


The One

by Oienel



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Nerdiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 17:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13299585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oienel/pseuds/Oienel
Summary: Short story of those three not so-cool guys having a one-sided crush on a girl. Only to find out that one of them did not have a one-side crush at all.





	The One

**Author's Note:**

> There is sex, but it's so non-explicit, that if you blink you'll miss it.  
> Inspired by CBX's "The One" - I wrote it long ago and posted on [tumblr](http://thong-in-the-twist.tumblr.com/). Now it's here as well.

“No, but seriously, she is looking at me.”

“Are you sure? I would swear that our eyes met.”

“Guys, back off, who would even look at you.”

“She is looking here!”

“Right, scream louder you dickhead… Oh shit, she is looking here.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, abort!”

Actually the girl was looking at them. With her eyebrows raised high, and disappointment in her eyes, as they slid down the row, assessing every single one of them. They finally shut up, looking at her curiously and at the same time shyly, as the realized that she was, in fact, looking at their group.

And then she opened her mouth slightly, and their eyes followed her lips, as she whispered.

“Fucking nerds.”

*

They were at it again. Sitting at the cafeteria’s table, food forgotten they seemed to be quarrelling about life-or-death matter. The dispute was livid, faces serious, hands gesticulating rancorously. It looked grave, but their voices were too quiet to be audible from other tables.

People sitting around them didn’t seem to realize that the Trio was behaving weirdly. Or more like they behaved differently from their usual weirdness.

They girl saw. The girl noticed, and it made her uncomfortable enough to eye them suspiciously for the half of her meal. She debated with herself whether she should check on them, but it took Baekhyun to stand up in rage, chopsticks hitting the floor, people looking around to see what was causing this ruckus, for her to decide.

Minseok pulled Baekhyun down by his sleeve, and they went back to their dispute, not bothering to pick up the chopsticks from the floor. Slowly other students went back to eating, as they realized that nothing exciting was bound to happen.

 “We’ll see each other in class.” The girl said to her friends. They looked up at her, one of them looking over her shoulder to eye the Trio. Girl shrugged.

“You do realize that they don’t need supervision.”

She shrugged again.

“I will just check on them.”

She saw how her friends rolled their eyes, or manifested their unhappiness in more subtle way, but she ignored them, standing up. She took her tray and walked over to quarreling group.

They didn’t even realize she approached them, which was quite uncanny, but she didn’t take the offence. She swiftly squatted to retrieve the chopsticks and promptly put her tray on their table and slid down on the bench next to Baekhyun.

They noticed. They got quiet.

“So.” She prompted, her eyes assessing them. “What is the problem?”

“Citrus shampoo…” Mumbled Baekhyun incoherently. Jongdae and Minseok showed their sudden interest, their eyes shooting to Baekhyun, whose eyes were misted over, and then to the girl.

“What?” She asked.

But neither wanted to explain that Baekhyun just smelled her shampoo. They knew where the line was, and they were not going to cross it. Their last shred of pride depended on this.

So Jongdae decided that it was time for a rescue.

“Ok, help us here.” He said, face serious. She raised her eyebrows, but it was more to encourage him to keep talking. Jongdae’s eyes went left to Minseok, and then straight to Baekhyun, before he said anything else.” We can’t seem to reach an agreement.”

“I can see that.” She said, folding her arms over her chest. She didn’t see Baekhyun suddenly focusing on the ceiling. “I think that whole cafeteria could tell.”

Minseok looked down, and Jongdae coughed, as he looked around, feeling hot under the collar.

“So, yeah, we were discussing which of Pokémon games was better. Red or blue.”

“Obviously Blue, it’s exclusives have better base stats!”

“How many times do I have to tell you, asses, that there is no difference?! Apart from the color palettes and the picture on the cartridge!”

“If they were the same, they wouldn’t make two different versions!”

They spiraled back into their fight, forgetting, that she was still sitting at their table. Getting both more annoyed and scared with every uttered word.

She spotted one of her friends still at their usual table, looking at her with smug smile, mouthing something that seemed like ‘you owned yourself’.

Girl sighed, her fingers found the edge of the tray, and she stood up. They didn’t notice. She walked away mumbling ‘fucking nerds’ under her breath.

Unknowingly they shed their last shred of decency.

*

She saw Minseok waving at her, as she walked down the alley. It was still cold, frost biting at her nose. She glanced longingly at the building, but she walked over to him.

“Hi.” She said, rubbing her hands together. Why did she forget her gloves?

“Hi.” He answered excitedly. He was all smiles, as usual.

But after that he said nothing, just standing there, looking at her quite expectantly.

She fidgeted on her feet, wanting to go warm herself up.

“Minseok?” She prompted, after a while. His head snapped up. “Do you have something to tell me or something…?”

He looked thoughtful, his head tilted to one side.

“No…” He finally said. “I just wanted to say hello!”

She said nothing, as she walked away.

But Minseok could have sworn he saw her lips twitching as if she wanted to pronounce “f”.

*

They were fighting. In the cafeteria. Again.

They were as quiet as the last time. It seemed like that was becoming their usual. Quiet quarrels during lunch break.

This time she wasn’t getting any of that. She wasn’t going to get fooled, this time she was not going to check. Either way they were probably discussing which Doctor was better or maybe which Starcraft’s race was the most useful, or maybe even whether Newton or Maxwell did more for physics.

The thing was… They were discussing whether they prefer her when she smiles or when she looks at them unimpressed.

Somehow, unimpressed look was wining.

*

Baekhyun was waving at her. Once again she forgot her gloves, so she waved back, and kept walking to the building. She learned her lesson with Minseok.

But he kept waving, and when she stopped, he called her by her name. So she took a quick glance at the main door, where her friend stopped to wave at her. She waved back and motioned for her to go to class.

Her friend looked after her curiously, as she walked over to Baekhyun.

“Hi.” She said carefully.

“Hi!” He was excited. But she long suspected that he was excited for everything. It was base state for him. “I wanted to ask you something, because I wanted to form a new club, but we need at least 6 members, so principal approves…”

“What kind of club?”

“Oh, League of…”

She turned around even before he finished. Her fingers were positively blue.

*

“She is looking here.”

“Should I show off my muscles?”

“What muscles…”

“Hey! Look at those!”

“Don’t see shit.”

“It’s better than yours… With this biceps you would own shit in a fight.”

“I could break your fingers.”

“Not my fingers, you…!”

“For fucks sake, neither of you goes to gym, and biceps made from playing League nor made from wanking counts!”

To their mortification she snorted. She looked slowly around, amusement in her eyes.

She heard that.

As always, no pride left.

*

 Once again she wished he had her gloves, as she stuffed her hands in her pockets. It was getting dark, and it was depressing that she’d have to walk home in the dark. Winter sucks.

She saw something in the corner of her eye. It looked like Jongdae waving.

She decided not to check. She just wanted to go home, and both Minseok and Baekhyun proved that stopping for that Trio wass quite… Unproductive.

So she kept walking.

She didn’t see how his hand stilled in the air, and how he looked around embarrassed. Neither did she see how he took a deep breath and trotted after her.

She was too focused on reaching her home to realize that somebody was walking behind her. And Jongdae was too shy to actually stop her. He kept trying to speak up, or to pat her shoulder, but he couldn’t force himself to do so.

It was dark, when she stopped in front of her house. She reached into her bag to fish her keys out, and only then did she realize that she wasn’t alone.

She screamed turning around, her hand with her keys coming up as if she was holding a weapon.

Jongdae jumped back sheepishly.

“What the fuck, Jongdae!” She screamed, when she realized that it was no stranger. He said nothing, looking at the tarmac. She took a deep breath seeing how embarrassed he was, and asked, trying to not to sound overly pissed.”What do you want?”

“Oh…” He looked up, and took something out of his pocket. She looked at his hand, not able to discern what was he holding.” I saw that you weren’t wearing any gloves, so…”

He pushed the thing he was holding into her hands, and she realized that she was holding a pair of grey gloves. She looked up, speechless.

“So, yeah… See you tomorrow.” He said, and walked away, before she could say anything to him.

Maybe that way was better. Because in her incredulous state she would have probably forgotten to thank him, instead she’d have scolded him for not giving them to her earlier.

The grey gloves were left on the counter, right next to her black ones.

*

Baekhyun stopped in his tracks, as she walked past him. He nearly missed her ‘see you tomorrow’, because he focused on taking a deep breath, his eyes sliding closed.

“Still citrus.” He said to Jongdae and Minseok. They didn’t answer, as they were busy  looking after her.

They were still looking after her, when she reached the doors, and hand clad in grey fabrics clenched around the handle.

*

The theme for Spring Party was announced. It wasn’t creative, but nobody was complaining. When the theme is not really creative it means that dressing up won’t be hard.

They were once again discussing something in the cafeteria. This time no one was paying attention, everybody was discussing the party. What would they wear, who would they invite, who would do who.

The girl was restless, sitting at her table, with her friends. They were also discussing outfits, searching for inspiration online. The girl tried to follow their conversation, tried to put in her three cents, but more often than not she found herself distracted.

The trio was also more distracted than usual. To the point where they allowed themselves to be caught – to be exact, girl caught them staring at her. Which resulted in certain distraught among the guys, but before they could turn on their fly mechanism, she was already walking in their direction.

There was a tension in the air, and Baekhyun turned around in his seat to face approaching girl. He laughed nervously, as if trying to calm the air, or maybe give himself some courage.

She ignored him, heart in her throat. One was sure, she needed to be quick, or else she would never will herself to do this.

“Jongdae.” Her voice was higher than usual, making her scowl. Jongdae looked up at her, surprised, as Minseok and Baekhyun exchanged glances. Girl could feel blush beginning on her nape.”Want to go to the dance with me?”

That was nearly grammatically correct. Which should be counted as a success.

Baekhyun started to cough upon hearing her words, and Minseok just froze. Jongdae’s eyebrows shot up, and girl wished she stayed quiet. And in her line. What was she thinking. Just why.

“Oh…” Once again she wished to disappear. It seemed like Jongdae’s hesitation wasn’t helping either.

“Ok, sorry.” She mumbled. It was clear, she wasn’t going to wait for him to say no.

“Wait!” She froze midstep, turning around to see him frozen as well, in the middle of standing up. He coughed. “Let me be the one to ask you.”

When she didn’t react he turned red. She was still frozen, Minseok was kicking Baekhyun under the table, and his victim was staring at Jongdae with mixture of annoyance, disgust, and certain pride.

“Ok.” She wheezed finally, and escaped, hoping that no one saw this exchange.

Wishes like that never come true.

*

As it turned out Jongdae’s asking consisted of him creeping after her to her house. Just like before she didn’t realize, and just like before he was too shy to stop her. Which normal person would consider stupid – they were basically going together to the party.

Deep down in her heart she considered that to be moronic. What’s the point of asking her, when it was obvious she would say ‘yes’. If she wasn’t going to, she wouldn’t have asked.

But she waited for him to ask, which didn’t happen for two next days.

Which she found annoying.

What was more annoying, was to find Jongdae standing behind her, with a single rose in his hand, as she was trying to find her keys.

He spoke up, before she did.

“Would you go to the Spring Party with me?”

She had an annoyed rate at the tip of her tongue, but thought better of that.

“I would.”

*

Scavenger hunt in mother’s closed proved to be fruitful. The girl was waiting for her Backstreet Boy to come, in short slip dress, sitting with her legs crossed, the upper one shaking impatiently Steve Madden platform sandal clapping at her sole in the silent house.

One bell ring has already reverberated in the air, but to reach the true ‘90s vibe, she had to wait for the second one.

It took longer than expected for the second ring to sound.

She rushed to the doors, suddenly realizing that he was probably too shy to call for the second time.

He was visibly relieved when she opened the doors.

She was also relieved, and intrigued at the same time. He looked… Good. With a fleece jacket/sweater, whatever that was, light jeans which literally hugged his legs, belt hanging low between his knees, even the white headband looked good.

“Just tell me those are not your clothes.” She joked, and he smiled, but said nothing.

He offered her his arm, when she locked the doors, and surprised, but pleased she took it.

*

He did, what he called, ‘an ostrich dance’.

She looked around, as if embarrassed, and his face fell. But when she saw that no one was looking, she turned around, looked him square in the eye, and when the beat changed, she did her best imitation of this dance.

He laughed, relieved, and she laughed as well, realizing, that it didn’t matter whether she was seen or not.

*

He walked her home. She joked that maybe he would prefer walking three steps behind her. He was certain he prefers walking next to her. And he did so, with his protruding ears bright red.

He stopped in his, now usual, spot. She turned around, as usual, to face him. Hopefully for both of them, in future: as usual, he leaned in and kissed her. His belt hit her leg and she grabbed it and lead in into the house.

Black and grey gloves were cleaned off the counter, black platforms falling to the floor, silky smooth dress dragged up to her waist.

Naked legs coiled around the waist, fleece irritating the skin. Fingers sunk into hair, fingertips dipping under the headband. Surprisingly strong, but delicate hand splayed on the back of the dress, as the counter shook and thumped into the wall, with buckle hitting the wood over and over again.

“You are fucking nerd.” He said in between the kisses.

“I guess muscles from wanking do count.” She answered nails digging into his biceps.

*

Baekhyun’s eyes crossed and then closed as she walked past them. He took a deep breath and even longer exhale.

“Citrus shampoo. Refreshing. Familiar. Good.” He whispered, and Minseok nodded earnestly. Neither of them seemed to notice that she stopped just before entering the cafeteria, and looked expectantly behind.

Jongdae unglued his back from the lockers, an inch taller than usual.

“Actually, it’s not shampoo, it’s a hair spray.”


End file.
